Ideas Marketplace presentation from the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Presented at Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day 5 in Doha Qatar, 3 December 2012. http://www.agricultureday.org

1. Climate Services to Support Farmer
1 • 3/21/11
Decision-Making Under a Changing
Climate
Knowledge Capture and Transfer
Successful initiatives in Africa and South Asia
demonstrate benefits of delivering seasonal and
shorter-term information at the village scale.
CCAFS is supporting studies of these initiatives
to capture and transfer good practice, including:
1. Dialogue between climate and agricultural
experts: In Mali this enabled meteorological
service staff, agricultural researchers and others
to create a weather-based advisory system
usable by farmers.
Cell phones are a common way to access agro-met
information in many parts of India. Credit: F. Fiondella 2. Partnerships with boundary
organizations: Networks of civil society
organizations served as trusted brokers of
The Challenge climate information for farmers in remote areas.
Challenges of providing farmers with decision-
3. Focus on equity: A concerted effort to reach
relevant climate information services include
women and other underserved groups ensures
gaps in:
that all can benefit from climate services.
• Knowledge of farmer needs, and farmer
input into design of services
• Information delivery infrastructure
• Information timing, content, scale, format
• Equitable access to communication
technologies
• Farmers’ understanding and trust
• Data coverage or appropriateness
A woman fielding calls from farmers in Andhra Pradesh, part of agro-met
advisory services by the state agriculture university. Credit: F. Fiondella
Climate Services at Scale:
Mission Possible
CCAFS case studies show that it is possible to
reach millions of farmers with climate services
that support decision-making under a changing
climate. The approaches can be scaled up to
enable many other farmers to benefit from
Farmer in Ouelessebougou village, a beneficiary of Mali’s
climate information and advisories. The time is
30 year old agro-met advisory program. Credit: A. Tall right for climate services.
For more information, contact: Arame Tall, a.tall@cgiar.org